What Anakin Skywalker and True Detective Can Teach Us About Live Theatre in 2022 By Tim Davis
Nearly two years ago, theatre as we knew it shut down.
I’m going to skip the sob story summary and just jump to the fact that theatre as we knew it is now clawing its way back to life. Kind of like Anakin Skywalker on the lava-strewn shores of Mustafar screaming “I HATE YOU!” at Obi-Wan Kenobi.
What I’m actually saying is that theatre is a toasted Anakin waiting for Palpatine to show up and drop it into a sick ass Vader suit. We’re all looking for our Vader suits.
K, I’m done with prequel Star Wars metaphors, promise.
The actual point being: theatre is rebuilding itself. It looks different. It feels different. It sounds different. And let’s hope to Thespis that it actually is different.
One way it’s different for NCP?
Heading outside.
From the beginning we’ve been a company working hard to create community around theatre, stories, justice issues, and artistry. We’ve always believed that saying “Hey we’re putting on a show that you should come see!” is much less interesting than “Hey we’re creating a conversation around this play that connects people in our community to each other, issues facing humanity, the art of theatre, and the artists who made it.”
Let’s get real. Most things on HBOMax are going to have more entertainment value than most plays you see. I look in the mirror every morning and think “I’ll never produce a play that anyone likes as much as I like the first season of True Detective.” I blink a few times, splash some water on my face, refuse to shave, and go produce the damn plays anyways.
You know why? Because I know a little secret.
HBOMax can’t shake your hand. HBOMax can’t bring people into each other’s presence. HBOMax can’t sync the heart-beats of hundreds of people in one room. HBOMax doesn’t know your name. You can’t ask HBOMax how the actors memorize all those lines (a classic). You can’t grab a beer with HBOMax after the show and unpack what you just experienced. In fact - you can’t really even experience HBOMax. Maybe some real good immersive shit, yes, I’ll give it to them, but for the most part? We consume things on our TVs at home. We experience live theatre.
There is a distance and a comfort when you stay at home and watch a show. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about it. Filmmaking is the other half of my life. But there’s a reason I can’t shake the theatre and the theatre won’t shake me; and my hunch is it’s got something to do with the closeness and the discomfort.
We crave connection. We crave intimacy. We crave closeness. Those things are uncomfortable. They can feel like a void you’re stepping into. They’re a muscle you have to work and develop. And for many of us, those muscles atrophied during multiple long stretches of quarantine. Every other person under 35 I know has some kind of social anxiety… and yet they still desire to be social and find ways to do it. NCP is exploring some ways to do it.
We’re heading outside and to a cafe and doing short plays and making it casual because theatre can be so stuffy and uninviting and expensive and stink of gatekeepers. That kind of exclusivity blows chunks. The theater (as in the venue) is a special place. But theatre (as in the art form) can happen anywhere.
And when it’s done with care and integrity and hospitality it becomes an experience. Now that’s something I’m happy to sell. Yes this was my sales turn don’t @ me. Insert transition music.
We wanted to do this festival outside for several reasons:
We are still in a pandemic. People are still getting sick and dying. Word on the street is that things are safer outside. We embraced this with a listening party of our original podcast Little Montgomery in 2020 and we embraced it with our co-production of A Love Like This in 2021.
Outdoor performances feel more like an invitation to participate in something, rather than merely spectate. Right up our alley.
Production costs are lower. This keeps costs down and allows lower ticket prices. The majority of $$ being spent on this project is going directly to the playwrights, directors, and actors who are making the art (80% to be exact). Big shout out to Cyth & Co. for sponsoring us and letting us perform free of charge. We love to see it.
Outside Cyth & Co., venue for the NCPLab Festival
Another rebuilding move for NCP?
The talent coming together to make this happen. New writers, new directors, new actors. Folks who you maybe haven’t seen fill certain theatrical roles are stepping up and filling them. That was part of the beauty of NCPLab during those intense quarantine days: watching people succeed in new areas.
We’ve also been thinking about the grander vision for this festival. Maybe a yearly gathering of theatre artists and storytellers from a wide variety of races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, body types, and abilities showcasing their work, making connections with other artists, and keeping the fire of creation in themselves alive and burning bright? Who wants to sponsor it? We take Venmo.
So let’s have a drink, share a meal, run a raffle, vote for our favorite play, and listen to some actors see how well they can shout over the sound of oncoming trains. Let’s stop pretending to be people who value local art and artists and get out there and actually support them and talk to them and thank them and encourage them.
Let’s stop despairing and complaining that all the talent leaves this town for NYC and LA and Chicago and we wish South Florida was more cultured or it’s too this or too that or blah blah blah. In the words of a favorite NCPLab prompt of mine brought to you by Philip Seymour Hoffman: “SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT UP… SHUT UP.”
Despair is for when you’re looking in the mirror in the morning and thinking about how you’ll never measure up to the greatness of True Detective Season 1.
This is about the hope and grit and quest for meaning and justice that exists beyond despair. Stories are the pathway to empathy. Empathy the pathway to justice.
New City Players’ mission is to create community through transformative theatre. Our vision is to help South Florida become a more thoughtful and empathetic community. I think this festival accomplishes our mission and chases after our vision.
Both are cute on a website and even cuter on a XXL t-shirt (yes, that’s mine). But they really pop when the work a company produces fits inside of them like a glove.
So put on that Vader suit and let’s enjoy some art made by artists who are your neighbors. We’ll do the same.
For tickets to the NCP Lab Short Play Festival, click here. All seven plays will be performed live at the outdoor patio of Cyth & Co. coffee and cocktail cafe from 7:30–9pm on Feb 17, 18, 19 and 20. Cyth & Co. is located at 3446 NE 12th Ave., Oakland Park 33334. For directions and menu go to cythco.com.